In Which the Doctor Smokes Pot for the First Time
by St. Aelphaba
Summary: Well, it's his second try. The first time, he didn't get high; his knees just felt kind of funny. But that might have been nerves.  ...It's perfectly legal on some planets, after all.


A/N: Because ROES LOVED DRUGS~

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><p>"Rose?" the Doctor asked. "How do I… How will I know when I'm…?"<p>

Rose looked over at him, her movements slow and relaxed.

"You'll know," she said. "Do you _feel_ it?"

"What am I supposed to feel? I don't even know _what_ it feels like. How can I go looking for something if I don't know what it is? I am _hungry,_" he said.

Rose giggled.

"Stand up. You're totally high."

"Am I?" he asked, standing up abruptly. Immediately he wavered. "Oh."

"_Oh_," Rose repeated, grinning. "How are you feeling?"

"Funny," the Doctor said. "My knees are shaking. My knees are shaking, Rose, look!"

His face split into a grin as he cackled and then almost immediately sobered up.

"This is weird. It feels like…like I'm water. Like I'm _made_ of water. Oh, my hearts are pounding," he said.

"I'm hungry," said Rose.

"You know how I feel?" the Doctor asked. "I feel like I'm made of water, and I'm just floating and moving through the water." He swayed side to side. "Oh. I like that. Fantastic. Brilliant!"

"Mhm," Rose said, getting up. "Chips sound good."

"Oh, chips sound good," agreed the Doctor. He began walking – staggering slightly – toward the kitchen. "Wow, this feels weird. This is funny."

"You sound _so_ stoned," said Rose with a laugh.

"Do I?" the Doctor's ears tinged, a slight frown on his face.

"It's cute," she said. The Doctor's ears turned even redder, and he smiled slightly at the compliment before thinking of something else to say.

"Why don't you sound…stoned?" he asked her.

"I probably do," Rose said. "It's just that you're too high to tell."

"Are you high?" the Doctor asked.

"Very," she said. "It's been a while, so my tolerance is really low. 'M just more used to handling myself." She grabbed his hand and led him faster to the kitchen. "Come on, I want chips."

"We're going fast," observed the Doctor, dancing a little as Rose led the way into the kitchen. His face split once again into a grin and he said, "Fast for food. Crazy for chips. Or chipper for chips. Ha-ha! Chipper!"

"Yeah," Rose said, evidently not even listening. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a small container of chips from the day before. "Cold chips."

"Share?" the Doctor asked.

"If you say please," Rose said, her tongue poking out between her smiling teeth. The Doctor complied, drawing out the word in a low, whiny voice.

"Very good," she said with a booming laugh. The Doctor joined in with her, and soon the two were clutching each other, laughing hysterically.

The Doctor wiped tears from his eyes, unable to fathom why everything was so _funny._ And so _amazing._ He looked at Rose's still-laughing face in awe.

"Rose," he breathed, "you're…you're _beautiful._"

Rose blushed the color of her namesake.

"Thanks," she said.

"No, I mean it," said the Doctor. "I don't know how you make your face do that thing."

"What thing?" Rose asked, her grin fading.

"The thing," he insisted. "Where it's beautiful. Like a painting or the smell of lavender or the way a planet goes around a star in a perfect almost-circle or like Einstein's Theory of Relativity – "

He cut himself off.

"Rose," he said, "I can see the Time Vortex."

"Can't you always do that?" she asked with a giggle.

"You don't understand," he said, "I mean, yes. But I can _see it._ And it's just _so beautiful._ And I can see the way timelines cross and uncross each other like little golden strings, and they're so insignificant but they're so profound and they all make an impact and _I can see it._"

"You can always see that, Doctor," Rose said.

"It's beautiful," he said. "Gimme a chip."

Rose handed him a chip and pretended to listen as he went on about the beauty of time.

"…And it's not like I can _see_ it, but I can feel it. No, I can _sense_ it, but it feels like seeing without eyes and with a bit of warmth and cold and pain and pressure and pleasure…" He paused. "I forgot what I was saying."

"The Time Vortex?" Rose supplied.

"Oh, yes," he said with a relieved grin. "I can _see_ it. And, Rose, you know what's funny? I can hear us in layers. I mean, I hear your voice and it's muffled but then I hear my voice and it's going so slow, and my mind is so loud and moving so fast. It's hard to keep up. But sometimes when you talk, I can focus on you better than I can focus on me, and I can practically see the layers changing. It's like, you were blurry and then suddenly you become clear and then I forget to focus and then you're blurry again, and the only clear thing are my thoughts but I can't keep up. And you know what else?" he said. "I'm really smart. I've had so many thoughts. I wish my brain talked faster."

"What?" Rose asked.

"I mean my mouth!" he amended. "I wish my mouth talked faster! My brain goes _so fast._"

"Your mouth goes fast, too," she said. "You just keep talkin', and I'll just sit here pretendin' to listen."

The Doctor put on a pout.

"But _Rose,_" he said, "I'm _brilliant._"

"I'm hungry," she said. "Let's make a pizza. We should watch a movie. _Spider-man._"

"We can't do both," the Doctor said.

"Yes, we can," Rose said defiantly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, suddenly realizing that they could, in fact, do two things at once.

"We can!" he said. "Because you know what? I'm a Time Lord! Rose, I can see Time. Isn't that _cool_?"


End file.
